5 minute read
Immeasurable Impact
Observations from the comfort of Brooklyn
Carrying on the ADW tradition of not actually being on the frontlines, these are some of the news and thoughts from smarter, braver people in Ukraine and elsewhere.
LOOK FOR THE HELPERS
It seems like people always need a reminder that the first way to make a situation better is to not be a jerk. Russianspeaking neighbors and restaurant owners are not necessarily Russian let alone supporting President Putin. Meanwhile, Tinder and Airbnb played into the fight for Ukraine with catfish collecting intel and money going directly to residents of Ukraine.
DIPLOMATIC
Historian Kimberly St. Julian- Varnon explained on the Into America podcast how racism is everywhere but there are existing communities to plug into in Ukraine because of the work Chairman Vladimir Lenin did during the Great Depression and Jim Crow era to attract skilled workers and spur the Soviet Union’s industrialization. Seaside towns became favorite vacation spots for the likes of Langston Hughes because Soviet police enforced that the beach was for everyone. It’s the reason so many students chose to be in Ukraine before the attacks.
TO STICK WITH THE LEGO MINI FIGURE SCALE (which can't be imported here), based on UN data and my scale of 1 mini fig equals 317 humans, it would take 76 boards to represent the 4.3 million Ukrainians who have fled the country. It would take another 116 boards to represent the 6.5 million Ukrainians displaced within their own country. That’s like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, *and* Philadelphia completely evacuating in a month and a half. (Check it out on the desktop version.)
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko calls bullshit on Russia’s claim that they are not targeting residential buildings.
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS BEFORE?
Russia invaded Ukraine February 24, 2022. That same day, Facebook fed me memories from eight years ago when Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2014. Esquire ran a story about normal people learning to fashion body armor and weapons. Four days later, they had the same story about Venezuela. Four years later, I have “memories” of Syrian sisters Noor and Alaa documenting on social media what it’s like to be trapped in Ghouta. There seems to be no end to humanitarian crises.
SYRIA - More than 10 years in, UNICEF reported Syria as the largest displacement crisis globally in February with nearly 5.7 million registered refugees, including 2.7 million children, now in neighboring countries. Refugees have little or no financial resources, so all the problems baked into poverty follow them. Relief organizations provide medicine, cooking gear, insulation for tents, and other basic necessities.
AFGHANISTAN - Forces folded up quickly, allowing the Taliban to come back into control this summer. Promises that girls would be allowed to return to school are evidently false as videos of students crying after being turned away were shared at the end of March. The millions of Afghans facing an emergency level of food insecurity also deserves more attention.
VENEZUELA - The ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela started in 2010 during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened under Nicolas Maduro. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports more than 6 million Venezuelan refugees worldwide with people continuing to escape violence and the lack of food, medicine, and essential services.
PROSECUTING WAR CRIMES
Kal was aghast that anyone could look at the video of dead bodies on the streets of Bucha, Ukraine, and not see evidence of murder. The idea that no one ever is actually convicted of war crimes was only met with more disbelief from him. It’s not completely true, but the horrors of Darfur were almost 20 years ago and one trial is getting underway now. The Bosnian War started in 1992, but Slobodan Milosevic didn’t stand trial for war crimes until 2001. And then he died in 2006 before a verdict was reached. Wikkipedia will tell you the first trial for war crimes was in 1474, but I’m telling my kids international criminal tribunals are not going to solve a problem like Putin.
If observers were saying Russia was using its playbook from Chechnya and Syria when they started indiscriminately shelling residential areas of Ukraine, someone should already have been charged with war crimes.
SHOULD YOU SEE THAT NEW HARRY POTTER MOVIE?
J. K. Rowling will directly profit from The Secrets of Dumbledore’s box office performance. If no one goes to see it in theaters to protest Rowling’s transphobic statements, Warner Bros. might cut off the Fantastic Beasts franchise instead of producing two more, damaging Rowling’s income and reputation. Sony is scheduled to release the Hogwarts Legacy video game, to which Warner Bros. says Rowling is not directly linked. Playstation releases games for free. Everything streams. Be patient.
INTERSECTION
If you do not know why so many of these tweets are saying Black women are triggered, you should listen to the stories women of color have to tell. Imagine what it would be like to not have anyone trust what you’re saying because you’re female and not white.
